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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, I 



Chap. 
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UNITED STATES 



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AMERICA. i3 



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OUTLINES 



OF THE 



LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES, 



CIVIL AND MILITARY, 



OP 



WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, 



OF OHIO. 



"Who is Ganeral H.irrisonT The son of one of the signers of tho De.^ilaration of Independence 
•»-hosp'=!ntthe greater i)i-t of his lar-e fortune, in raleemin,' ths plei^'ehe ttien give, of his • fortune 
life, and sacred hoair.'to secure the liberties of his co^intry. 

"Of the career of General Harrison I need nn speak— the history of the West, is his history For 
firtyyeirsne has been id ^atifiji with its interest, its p;riis, a.id its lioaes. Universally beloved in 
the walks ot p^acj, and distin'^uisbed hy his ability in the oancils of" his coantry, he has been yet 
mjre illustriously distins^ished in the field. 

" Diirini; the lat- war, he was longer in active service th'in any other General oiHcer ; he wa« per- 
haps ofcener in action than any one of them, and never sastained a defeat."— GoL. RicHtRD M John- 
so.s's Speech in Congress. 






W ASHINGT ON: 
PUBLISHED BY THOMAS ALLEN, 

MADISONIAN OFFICE. 
1840. 



James Madisos, in a special message to Congress, December 18, 1811, said: 

" While it is deeply lamented that so many valua'-le lives have been lost in the action which took 
place on the 7lh ultimo, Congress will see with satisfaction the dauntless spirit of fortitude victori- 
ously displayed by every description of troops engaged, as well as the colleclcd firmness which distinguish' 
ed their commander on an occassion requiring the utmost exertions of valor and discipline. 



In the Legislature oflndiana, on the 12ih of November, 1811, the Speaker of the House of 
Representatives, Gen. William Johnson, thus addressed General Harrison : 

" Sir — The House of Representatives of the Indiana '''erritory, in their own name, and in behalf of 
their constituents, most cordially reciprocate the congratulations of your Excellency on the glorious re- 
sult of the late sanguinary conflict with the Shawnee Prophet, and the tribes of Indians confederated 
withhiiTi ; when we see displayed inbehalf of our country, not only the consummate abilities of the Ge- 
neral, lint the heroism of the man ; and when we take into view the benefits which must result to that 
country from those exertions, we cannot, for a moment, withhold our meedof applause." 



Legislature of Keniuchj, January 7, 1812. 

Resolved, Bv the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Kentucky, that in the late cam- 
paign against the Indians noon the Wabash, Governor William Harrison has behaved like a hero, a pa- 
triot and a general ; and that, for his cool, deliberate, skilful and gallant conduct in the battle of Tippe- 
canoe, he well deserves the warmest thanks of his country and his nation. 



Governor Shelby to Mr. Madison, May 18, 1814, says: 

" I feel no hesitation to declare to you that I believe General Harrison to be one of the first military cha- 
racters J ever knew." 



Hon. Langdon Cheves on the Thames victory: 

" The victory of Harrison rcas svch as would have scc^ired tn a Roman general in the best days rf the Re- 
public the honors of a triumph ! He ]Ait an end to the war in the uppermost Canada." 



Resolution directing the medals to be struck, and, together wiih the thanks of Congress, presented 
to Major General Harrison and Governor Shelby, and for other purposes. 

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congres<« 
assembled. That the thanks of Congress be, and they are hereby presented to Major General William 
Henry Harrison and Isaac ShcUiy, late Govrrnor of Kentucky, and, thro gh them, to the ofBcers and 
men under thei' command, for their nallanlry and good cond\ict in defeating the combined British and 
Indian forces under Major General Proctor, oa the Thames, in Upper Canada, on the fifth of October, 
one thousand eight hundred and thirteen, capturing the British army, wilh their baggage, camp equipage 
and artillery; and liiat the President of the United States be requested to cause two gold medals to be 
struck, embleinatical of his triumph, and presented to General Harrison and Isaac Shelby, late Govenior 
of Kentucky 

H. CLAY. 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

JOHN GAILLARD, 

President of the Senate, pro tempore. 
April 4, 1818. — Approved, 

JAMES MONROE. 



<r- 



LIFE OF WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, 



BY 



HON. CALEB GUSHING. 



Wii.i.lAM Hf.nry Harrison being nov.' before the people of the United States as a candidate 
for tlie President;y, it naturally follows that the event.s of liis life, and the public service he has 
perfonn^td, should become objects of general interest and attention. Happily there exist ample 
means of authentic information to satisfy the public curiosity concerning him ; for the history of 
the Western States, daring the period of their early struggles and triumphs, is also his history ; 
and his fame is identified with that of the teeming myriads of the Valley of the Mississippi. A 
brief retrospect of his career, civil and military, while it exhibits the character and acts of an 
able statesman, a hi^h-minded patriot, a Lrave soldier, and a successful commander, will ap- 
prove and justify the confidence and respect of his countrymen, in proposing to raise him to 
the eminent post of Chief Magistrate of the Union. 

BIRTH AND EDUCATION, 

Harrison wa3 born of the blood, and bred in the school, of the patriots of the Revolution. 
That was a period, when a single-hearted purity of purpose and a lot'ty self-devotion of princi- 
ple animated the public nren of the day. In the Congress of the Thirteen States, each State, and 
every Pvepresentative of either State, contended to see which would most disinterestedly serve 
Iheir common country. When a Commander-in-Chief of the armies of Independence was to be 
appointed, Massachusetts hastened to sacrifice her own local claims and preferences in behalf of 
George Washington of Virginia. When John Hancock, elected President of Congress, mod- 
estly hesitated to assume thul important station, Benjamin Harrison, of Virginia, placed him 
witli gentle force in the Presidential chair, exclaiming, ' We will show mother Britain how 
little we care for her, by making a Massachusetts man our President, whom she has excluded 
from pardon, by public proclamation.' In foct, Benjamin Harrison, acting in the spirit of the 
times, postponed his own pretensions in favor of Hancock. His naine is enrolled for immor- 
tality arming the signers of the Declaration of Independence. At a subsequent period, as Gov- 
ernor of Virginia, he exerted all the energies of his decided and powerful mind in the applica- 
tion of the resources of that great Commonwealth, to the promotion of the cause of the Revo- 
lution. 

William Henry, third son of Benjamin Harrison, was born at Berkley, in Charles city coun- 
ty, Virginia, the 9th of February, 1773, and educated at Hampden Sidney College. His father 
died in 17J)1, having expended a large fortune in the sjrvice of his country during the Revolu- 
tion, in Congress, as Chairaiin of the Board of War, and otherwise, and as Governor of 
Virginia; and thus leaving to his children little inheritance, save the example and lessons of 
his patriotism and love of liberty. Dependant on his own exertions, and preparing to enter 
life at an interval of peace, ha had applied himself assiduously to the study of medicine; but, 
before long, the hostilities of the Indians in the Northwest began to awaken public solici- 
tude: and he felt irresistibly impelled to relinquish his professional pursuits, and to dedicate 
his life to the defence of his country. This inclination was combatted, but in vain, by his 
guardian, Robert Morris. It w^as heartily approved, however, bv General Washington, the 
intimate friend of his father, and then President of the United States, who appreciated the gen- 
erous motives of young Harrison, and gave him an appointment of ensign of artillery in the 
troops destined to operate on the Ohio. 

SERVICES UNDER WAYNE. 

It was no holiday service in which Harrison was to learn the duties of a soldier. The North- 
west, at that time, thinly inhabited by the hardy pioneer settlers, was overrun by numerous 
bands of hostile Indians, their enmity to the United States, stimulated and fostered by the in- 
trigues of Great Britain. Indeed, the British ministers treated the years immediately following 
the^war of Independence as an imperfect truce, rather than an assured peace. Notwithstanding 



4 

the efibrts of the United Stalps, dniin:^ the war of Independence, io induce tlie British Govern- 
ment to allow the Indians to stand neutral diuin;: that contest, — notwiilisianding the indi'^nant 
denunciation of ihe policy of Great Britain in this respect, by such men us Chutham and Burke, 
in tlie British Parliament, — the Ministers armed the Indians on the frontier, and let loose upon 
our defenceless women and children, the Sciva<;e instruments of massacre and conflagration. 
Thus, the life of the early settlers in llie Wi-st, w?.s one of f-arful danger, or of continual 
contest wit.h a foe who recognized no rules of civilized warfare. When the independence of the 
United States was at length acknowledired by Great Britain, our peojile considered in good 
faith that peace was come, and the, tide of their emigration began to s^'t in a steady stream to 
the fertile fields of the West, liut they found that the British Government persisted, ia viola- 
lion of treaty, in retaining military possession of the great frontier posts in the Northwest; 
that she still fomented the hostile passions of the Indians, and supplied them with arms; and 
that slie was prompting and combining them in a project to drive our people out of the North- 
west, and to establish, between the Ohio and the Lakps, a great independent Indian Empire, 
looking to her for protection, and thus restoring to her influence one half of the territory nomin- 
ally recognized as ours by the Treaty of Peace. Between I7S3 and IIH'J, it is estimated that 
fifteen hundred men, women and children were killed or taken prisoners by the Indians on the 
waters of the Ohio, and an incalculable amount of property plundered or destroyed. At length, a 
formal war broke out, and its opening events were most disastrous to the United States. First, 
came the defeat of General Harmar, and the di.sjiersion of the army under his command. Next, 
General St. Clair, with a still larger force, was defeated, with great loss, by the confederated 
Indians under Little Turtle. The whole country was now filled with consternation. Mtn, 
wiio would have cheerfully gone to the encounter of regular troops in the field, shrunk from the 
hardships of a laboriousv service in the wilderness of the West, and from exposure to the 
rifle and tomahawk of the merciless Indian. Great as were the difficulties of the case, however, 
Greneral Washington met thein with his characteristic vigor and firmness. The war had ceased 
to be an affair of the frontier: it had assumed national importance. General Anthony Wayne., 
an officer who had won a nurited distiiiciion in the Revolutionary War, by that union of sound 
judgment and successful daring, which constitutes the highest military talent, was selected to 
take the command in the Northwest. But an army was to be created jis well as a commandey 
found; for the previous army had been nearly annihilated in the defeats of Haraiar and St. 
Clair ; and most of die experienced officers were slain or had resigned theirj commissions Ac- 
eordingly, the army was newly organized; and the first Imsiness of General Wayne was] to 
discipline his raw levies, to give them the habit and skill of combined action, and, above all to 
reinfnse into the troops the necessary confidence, which the calamitous campaigns of Harmar 
and St. Clair had done so much to destroy. Assiduous exercises in the camp, toilsome marches,. 
ine,essant watching and hard fare on tlie way, deadly peril in the field, — such was the life of 
the troops led by GJeneral Wayne to redeem the lionor of the country, and deliver the Nurtliwest 
from dismay and desolation. 

These were the circumstances, amid wliich, in the campaign of 1791, Harrison, at the age of 
eio'hteen, commenced his career of public duties. On receiving his eommissioii, he repaired 
innnediately to join his rcginjcnt, ihen stationed at Fort Washington, where he arrived just 
after the defeat of General Si. Clair, to witness the gathering in of the scattered fragments of 
that officer's late gallant army, and to co-operate in maintaining the frontier outposts against the 
victorious Indians. Harrisun's young and slender form was deemed by his triends hardly ro- 
bust enough to cope with the hardshi[)s and privations of an arduous winter service in such a re- 
gion and at such a time. But the boldness and vigor of his character, his early prudence, and the 
temperate habits, which, notwithstanding the temptations of a soldier's life, he sedidously culti- 
vated, prepared him to endure, without injury, the severe toils and exposures of his after lifi-, 
and bore him triumphantly through all the difficulties and d.ingers of his position. 

His first detailed service was to command an escort Ixiund for Fort Hamilton ; a dutv wliich, 
young as he was, he discharged with so much ability and judgment as to elicit the commenda- 
tion of St. Clair. 

In 1792, Harrison was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, and on joining the legion under 
General Wayne, was selecteit by him as one of his aids-de-camp, in which cap.-'city he served 
during the rest of the war. The appointment was as honorable as it was useful to Harrison ; 
for General Wayne was a man, who looked only to personal merit in the officers he distinguish- 
ed ; and employment under his immediate eye, was a severe school of discipline, courage^ and 
ability, which necess.irily exacted high qualities, and afVorded the best field for their development 
and exercise. 

Wayne's army left Pittsburg towards the close of 1702, and as" the organization and dis- 
cipline of the troops advanced, prt)ceeded first to Legiouville, at the mouth of Beav\-, then 
to Fort Washington, (Cincinnati) and finally to Greenville towards the Miami. Nee;i]tiation 
for peace had meanwhile gone on without results. In December, 1793, a body of troops was 
dispat hed to take possession of the battle field of St. Clair's defeat, and to fiirtify a position 
there, called Fort Recovery. In the course of the general order, issued on that occasion, General 
Wayne says : " The Commander-in-chief also requests Major Mills, Captains De Butts and 
Butler, LiKUTi'.N'ANT Haiuusov, and Dr. Scott, to accept his best thanks for their voluntary aid 
and services on the occasion." Harrison had thus early earned a name in history. 



Passing: over the lesser inridents of war, it will be sufficient to dwell on the crowning victory 
of the 20th Au£ust, 1794. Wayne had advanced into the very heart of tlip Indian counliy. at the 
head of the United States troops, and a gallant hand of Kentuckinns under General Charles Scott. 
He encouniered the combined force of the hostile Indians, with volunteers and militia from Can- 
ada, numbering: 2,000 in all, at the foot of the Minmi Rapids, in the vicinity of a British fort and 
yerrison recently set up in our territory, and with a force less than half that of the enemy, gained 
R complete and splendid victory. In his dispatch to the President, giving an account of the vic- 
tory. General Wayne says: 

" The bravery and conduct of every officer belonging to the army, from the generals'down to 
the ensigns, merit my highest approbation. There were, however, some, whose rank and 
situation placed their conduct in a very cons]jicuous point of view, and which I observed with 
pleasure and the most lively gratitude ; among whom I beg leave to mention Brigadier General 
Wilkinson, and Colonel Hamtrumck, the commandant of t1ie right and left wings of the legion, 
whose brave example inspired the troops; and to these I must add the names o{ my faithful and 
gallant a.id-de-cam.p Caplains DeBuils and T. Lewis, avd Lieutenant Harrison, who, with th^ 
Adjutant General Major Mills, rendered the most essential service by communicatins: my orders 
in every direction, and by their conduct and bravery exciting the troops to press for victory. " 

Indeed, there are veterans of that well fought field, who remember and honor the gallantry of 
youns: Harrison in rallyins: our troops to battle. 

Tins engagement, not only broke the power of the Indians in the North-west, and ended the war 
there by jthe peace of Greenville, but also suppressed the hostility of the Southern Indians, and 
thus gave tranquillity to the entire West, but also compelled Great Britain to surrender the fron- 
tier posts intrusively held by her, and to conclude a new treaty with us. 

Previous to this, however, Harrison being advanced to the rank of Captain, was placed in 
<:ommand of Fort Wasliington, with extensive discretionary powers to be used according to 
the requisition of circumstances, and with various specific delicate duties devolved on him by 
the vet unquiet condition of the Ohio and IVIississippi country. 

While stationed in this command. Captain Harrison married the daughter of John Cleves 
Symmes, the founder of the Miami settlrments; a lady who has been hisestimable companion 
through life, the consort of his toils and vicissitudes, and the witness of his fume and his 
honor. 

SECRETARY OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 

On the death of General Wayne, in 1797, Harrison, perceiving that the exigencies of war 
were passed, and that there was no lono:er an opportunity to serve his country in tlie field, 
resigned his commission in the army, and was immediately appointed Secretary of the North- 
west Territory. Here, in the discharge of the civil duties incumbent on his office, he became 
intimately associated with the brave and hardy people around him, and learned to understand 
and duly estimate the character, wants, and wishes of his countrymen, — studying the practical 
lessons of life in the great volume of nature, as unfolded to him by daily intercourse, in the cabin 
■of the settler, the hunter's lodge, the council chamber, and in social meetings, with the free- 
-spirited pioneers of the West. 

DELEGATE IN CONGRESS. 

When, according to then existing system, the Northwestern Territory was admitted to a 
representation in Congress, the signal abilities, not less tlian the personal popularity of Har- 
rison, pointed him out to the people as the fittest person to represent them ; and, on the opening 
of the sixth Congress, December 2d, 171)9, he took his seat, as the Delegate of the Territory iu 
ithe House of Representatives, being then but twent}'--.'5ix years of age. 

He distinguished himself in that Congress by proposing and carrying through a series of 
measures, all-important immediately to his constituents, and, in their eft'ects,''eminently beneficia 
to the whole West, for a radical change in the method of making sales of the public lands. 

This, of course, the interest in the soil, was the question of questions in a new country. At 
that time, the public lands, exeept in peculiar situations, were offered only in large tracts, of at 
least four thousand acres. The purchase of so large a tract of land required considerabhj 
means, and gave all advantage to the capitalist, who bought for resale, and imposed every dis- 
advantage on the actual settlers. These last were generally poor men, whose bold hearts and 
strong arms were to win the country from the savages, clear the soil, and constitute the very bone 
and sinew of the population; but who yet, by the system of sales in use, were almost debarred 
from the rights of freeholders, except by purchase, at second hand, from the great landowners. 
In some instances, very extensive grams had been made to companies or individuals; the ope- 
ration of all which, if continued \<'itliout change, Avould have been to build up a class of rich 
proprietors, with the mass of the people in the condition of mere tenants on their princely estates. 
Nothing could have been more inequitable, nothing more favorable to the Few, notliing less 
so to the Many, 

With this subject, in all its bearings, Harrison was practically familiar; and, young aa he 



6 

was, and a new member, too, the House deferred lo his knowled^ie and experience and the 
sagacity of his views on this f^rent subject. At his motion a select committee was raised to 
investii^ate the matter, of which he was appointed chairman, and the committee adopted his 
ideas; he was efScientJy supported in tlie conimittt-e by Mr. Gallatin, and their report recom- 
mended that the public lands be, in the first place, offered at public sale, in half sfctions of 320 
acres; that lands not bid olF at public sah's should remain for private entry at the minimum 
government price; and thai, for the convenience of the settlers, land offices should be opened in 
the region of the sales. Relyinc; upon the justice of his causf^, and his intimate knowledge 
of the subject, and with an ardint zeal and a ready and manly eloquence at his command, he 
succeeded in convincin;;: Congress of the wisdom of these ideas, and procuring the passage of a 
law in conformity therewith. Subsequf^ntly, the same ideas were siill further carried out by 
authorizing the sale of the public lands m still smaller subdivisions, and at a reduced price. 

Encouraged by his success in this measure, lie introduced and carried another for a change in 
the mode of locating military warrants. By these measures, he at once secured the gratitude 
of his constituents, and acquired standing and character as an able statesman; for the reforms 
thus effected were of the utmost possible consquence to the welfare of the Wrst. Now, when 
settlers poured, with augnunted rapidity, into the valley of the Ohio, the hmd was no longer 
engrossed by monopolists, Ijut every man could be the master rif a freehold, suited to his views. 
Who can say how much the prosperity and population of the West might not have been retarded 
if the former defective system had been persevered in by Congress? Thanks to the judgment 
and efforts of Harrison, other counsels prevailed. 

GOVERXOR OF INDIANA. 

When, soon afterwards, the Northwest Territory was divided, and the Territory of Indiana 
established, public opinion, the wishes of the inhabitants, and the confidence of the Executive in 
his capacity and integrity, di'sii^natrd Harrison to be its Governor. Pie received the appoint- 
ment ill ISdO ; and immediately entered u|ion the diffii-nk and responsible duties of his Govern- 
ment; being first appointed by Mr. Adams, and afterwards by Mr. Jcff.-rson. 

The new Territory embra<;ed the vast region now divided into Indiana, Illinois, and Wis- 
consin ; for a period of nearly two years, from 1803 to 1805, the whole of Louisiana was 
appended to it, and Michigan was for a time added, on the admission of Ohio into the Union 
III the very outsftt, however, the limits of Governor Harrison's jurisdiction were suffiiiently 
extensive. His powers were not less so; for the Territory had no separate Legislature, and ail 
the functions of government, of course, appertained jto the United States, and were devolved on 
the Governor. 

It was a new country, whose institutions were yet to be formed. The white population was 
thinly scattered over a wide region. There were three principal settlements only : one at Vin- 
cenncs, on the Wabash, which was the capital ; another, known as Clark's Grant, at th" Falls 
of the Ohio; and the third in the American Bottom, from Kaskaskia to Cahokia. Between 
these chief settlements the means of cominunication were imperfect, and the. intermediate country 
was in tiie possession of the Indians, wiio, beside, oecupied the wide wilderness beyond the 
settlements. The Indians were restless and dissitisfied, given to plunder and murder, even in 
the periods of professed peace, iind kept in a state of perpetual irritatitm against the United 
States by the iniriirues of the British Government, whose agents supplied them with arms and 
ammunition, infuriated them with ardent spirits, and perpetually incited them to war and 
rapine. All the endeavors of the United States (and they were unceasini';) to allure the Indians 
to the arts of peace, — to civilize and christianize them, — to save them from the self-degradation 
of their own peculiar vices of idleness, intemperance, and poverty. — were neutralized by the 
officers of Britain, whose policy it was to keep them ready maddened to her hand, to be let slip, 
at a word, on the frontier settlements of the Ohio and the Mississippi. 

Such v.'as the nature of the country, and such that of the inhabitants. The powers and the 
duties of the Governor, numerous, complicated, and extensive, authorized and r^rpnred him to 
adopt and publish such laws of the oiiL^in.il States, criminal and civil, as mi'.:ht be neces3:-ry 
and best suited to tlie circumstances of the Territory, — to appoint all.magistrates and other offi- 
cers, civil and military, below the rank of General, — to command the militia, — to divide the 
Territory into counties and townships, — to superintend the affairs of the Indians, — and, in gene- 
ral, to represent tlie plenary authority of the Federal Government in avast variety of adminis- 
trative cares and functions. And, in 1803 Mr. Jefferson added to all th<se great powers (hat 
of irrmeral and sole commissioner to treat with the Indian tribes of the Northwest on the subject 
of their boundaries and lands. 

Thus, it will be seen that, for some time. Governor Harrison was, in efTect. the lawgiver of 
U^e peo]ile, of the Northwest ; that he was their eivil and military L'overiuir, and the fountain of 
trust and oflice ; their general agent with the I'\>deral Government, and the superintendant of, 
and negotiator with, the numerous Indians between the Ohio, the Lakes, and the Mississippi. 

In the latter cafiacity, he concluded, in the course of his administration, thirteen important 
treaties with the different tribes, and obtained cessions, on the most advantaeenns terns, of not 
Jess than sixty millions of acres of land, einluMcing a large portion of the richest region in the 
Northwest; at the same tim", that he, for a long period, preserved the peace within his jurisdic 



lion, and coantevacted all the machinations of the agents and officers of Great Britain to embroil 
our people with the sava<,'es, and taught the latter, in the course of his frequent association with 
them, to respect his undaunted firmness, while they were conciliated by his moderation, forbear- 
ance, and integrity. 

His inte2:rity, indeed, not in this relation only, but, in all the multifarious trusts committed to 
him, some of them of the most delicate and discriminating kind, was equally manifest through- 
out ills long administration of the affHii-s of the Northwest. His unspotted purity, in the dis- 
bursement of the large sums of public money which passed through his hands, if not then 
remarkable in men so situated, was a virtue, which later experience has taught his countrymen 
to appreciate as it deserves. Nor in reference to money only, but likevyise in the management of 
his various trusts relating to the public lands, the same disinterested integrity of principle was 
characteristic of his conduct. Thus, to mention but one example, to him was confided the sole 
authority of confirming grants of land to a-numero\!s class of individufils having certain equita- 
ble claims to be approved and sanctioned by him. Here, also, later experience has demonstrated 
the stainless integrity of his character, by showing the opportunities he possessed (had he chosen 
to descend to use them) to gain wealth bv indirect means. Yet his conduct in this respect, as in 
all others, is universally admitted to have been not only strictly and scrupulously upright, but so 
honorable, just, and true, as to be beyond the reach of suspicion. 

Once, and only once, was his integrity called in question. One Mcintosh, for some insignifi- 
cant causo of offence, accused Governor Harrison of having defrauded the Indians in the treaty 
of Fort Wayne ; and the accused justly conceived that it was due to his own fame, and to the 
interests of the General Government, that the charge should be fully investigated in a court of 
justice whilst all the facts were fresh in the minds of the community. He instituted, therefore, 
an action for slander in the Supreme Court of the Territory, and every possible means was 
adopted to secure a free and fair investigation of the circumstances by committing thetrial.to a 
judge and a jury of admitted competency and impartiality between the parties. It was done ; 
"and the evidence was so conclusive in favor of Governor Harrison, that the counsel for Mcin- 
tosh abandoned the attempt to justify, and plead only m a mitigation of damages. The jury, 
however, rendered a verdict of four thousand dollars damages against Mcintosh; whose pro- 
perty was levied ujion to satisfy the judgment, and being brou-dht in by an agent of the Gover- 
nor, one third of it was distributed by him among the orphan children of some of his fellow-citi- 
zens who had died in battle, and the residue was restored to Mcintosh himself No language 
of praise can add to the truth and force of the simple beauty of such examples of magnanimity, 
disinterestedness and generosity^ 

Governor Harrison'did not willingly continue in the exercise of the large po\yers originally 
confided to him, any longer than the policy of the Federal Government required it of him ; and 
in 1805, partly at his pressing instance, the people of Indiana were authorized by Congress to 
elect a Legislative Assembly and a Delegate to the House of Representatives. This change, 
while it divided the powers of the Governor, scarcely diminished his means of usefulness; be- 
cause the new form of government, being participated in by the people, involved the originating 
and discussion of new measures adapted to the advanced state of the Territory. The depart- 
ments of administration were to be modeled; important laws to be enacted; and public measures 
to be considered by the Governor, in co-operation with the representatives of the people. His 
speeches to the Legislature, at this period, are frank, manly, sagaciously conc^eived, and well 
written public documents, exhibiting a mind cultivated by study and reflection, zeal for the public 
service, and views of enlightened statesmanship adapted to the circumstances and the welfare of 
the Territory. In a word, in his civil capacity, as Governor of the Territory, he was a wise, 
upright, faithful, and successful administrator of the high powers entrasted to him by the Gene- 
ral Government. 

It necessarily followed that he enjoyed the highest meed of active public service, which a 
statesman can hope for, — the highest, that is, next to the approbation of his own conscience, — 
namely, the consciousness of eminent usefulness and of eminent popularity consequent thereon. 
When he first entered on the duties of his office, he avowed his intention to retain it no longer 
than his administration should be satisfactory to the people of the Territory ; and at their request 
his commission was renewed at successive periods by Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison. His 
first appointments had come from the " Father of his country;" and Adams. Jefferson, and 
Madison, each in succession honored him with their confidence. In politics, he had been early 
identified with the Republicans; and he temperately, but steadily, adhered to the maxims of that 
•party; deferring to the wishes of the people, and seeking to promote their interests, in the true 
spirit of enlightened republican patriotism. 

Hence, when Louisiana was separated from Indiana, the citizens of St. Louis expressed their 
sentiments of his administration as follows : 

*'To his Excellency William H-. Harrison, Governor, and the honorable the Judges of the Indiana 

Territory. 
'■Gentlemen: An arduous public service assigned you by the General Government of the 
United Slates, is about to cease. The eve of the anniversary of American Independence will 
close the scene, and on that celebrated festival will be organized, under the most auspicious cir- 
cumstances, a Government for the Territory of Louisiana. Local situation and circumstances 



forbid the possibility of a peiTiianent political connexion. Tliis cliange, however congenial to 
our wishes, and conducive to our iiappiness, will not take eflect without a respectful expression 
of our sentiments, to you gentlemen, for your assiduity, Httcntion,and disinterested punctuality, 
in the temporary administration of the government of Louisiana." 

The officers of the militia of St. Louis, on the same occasion, at tlie close of an address to 
the Governor, said : 

*■ Accept, sir, these sentiments as the pledge of our nffcctionatc attachment to you, and to the 
magnanimou.s policy by which you have been guided. — May the Ciiief Majjistrate of the Ameri- 
can nation duly estimate your wortii and talents, and long keep you in a station where you have it 
in your power to gain hearts by virtuous actions, and promulgate laws among men who know 
how to r' spect vou, and jul- iicquainled with tlieextent of their own rights." 

In IHOf), the Mouse of lli |irt;sentatives of Indian;!, in a resolution unanimously requesting of 
the President to reappoint Governor Harrison, used tlie following language: 

" Tliey (the House of Representatives) cannot forbear recommending to, and requesting of, 
the President and Senate, most earnestly in their own names, and in the names of their constitu- 
ents, the re-appointment of their present Governor, William Henry Harrison : — because he pos- 
sesses the good wisiii'S and iifl'ections of a great niitjority of his fi-llow-cilizens; be(!aiise they be- 
lieve him to be sincerely attached to the Union, the ]irosperity of the United States, and the admin- 
istration of its government; because they bi-lieve him in a superior degree capable of promoting 
the interest of our territory, from long experience and laborious attention to its concerns, from 
his influence over the Indians, and wise and disinterested management of that department; and 
because they have confidence in his virtues, talents, and republicanism." 

And the officers of the militia of Knox county, passed the following resolution : 

" Resolved, that the attention paid, and the unremitted exertions used, by William Henry 
Harrison, to organize and discipline, by frequent trainings, the militia of the territory, ^nd the 
masterly skill and mihtary talents displayed in such his exertions, together with the anxious 
solicitude with which he has ever watched ovfr the peace and happiness of the territory; to- 
which may be added, the confidence reposed in him by the ncigiiboring tribes of Indians, and 
the great facility and ease with wliich he manages their affairs, induce this meeting to have great 
confidence in him, as eminently qualified to govern the territory, not only because of his supe- 
rior talents, but also his integrity, patriotism, and firm attachment to the General Government." 

With these most honorable testimonials to his worth and capacity as Governor of the Terri- 
tory of Indiana, this pdit of the subject may well be closed, for the purpose of proceeding to 
other matters of deep and wide interest. 

COMMISSIONER ANI> SUPERINTENDANT OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, 

We have seen that, in addition to his ordirtary duties in the civil and military government 
of the Territory of Indiana, Governor Harrison was also Commissioner to treat with the In- 
dians, and Superintendant of Indian Afi'airs in the Northwest, in which capacity he negotiated 
a large number of important treaties, and conducted all the relations of the United Slates with 
the Indians, in a spirit of mingled dignity, decision and laiinanity, alike honorable to hiinseli 
and to the Federal Government. His voluminous correspondence with the Government oji 
these matters appears in the oflicia! documents of the day, and is distinguished by minuteness 
of detail, the full and accurate statement of facts, a benevolent and enlightened policy, and a 
considerate regard as well for the rights and interests of the Indians themselves, as of the 
whole inhabitants of the Territory. The same spirit of equity, forbearance, and manliness, 
in this respect, pervades his addresses to the Legislature of Indiana, whenever occasion called 
lor anv reference to the subject. 

Similar traits were manifested by him in his immediate intercourse with the Indians. This- 
department of public duty, ahvays"a diflicult one to discharge judiciously, was emphatically 
so at that period. The Northwest was then lilled, not only with the trilDes who had originally 
hunted there, but with tlie broken reinnanlsof other tribes,— men whom the atrocions policy of 
Great Britain had inveigled into war against us, and who, now smarting under successive de- 
feats, and scattered over the country, constituted the ready elements of disorder, it any of the 
chances of events should oiler theni inducements to raise the hatchet anew. Nor were they 
■without continual incitements to hostility. It was a part of the system of Great Britain,— a 
system not yet relinquished, — to assemble the tribes of the Northwest annually at a convenient 
point on the Lakes, and there to pay and deliver to them a regular war subsidy, as the price 
of their allegiance to Britain anil eiimiiy to the United States. The British traders in the 
Northwest spared no pains to misrepresent the acts of the people and Government of the 
United Slates, and to thwart all our endeavors either to keep the peace in that region, or tu 
raise the Indians to the condiiion of a civilized and Christian people. There, too, as almost 
uvery where else, the Indians were their own worst enemies, by their obstinate adherence to 
the usages of savage life, their repudiation of all regular government, and their consequent 
exposure to the crimiial arts of bad men along the frontier, who, from avarice and profligacy^ 
supplied a fatal nutriment to the constitutioual vices of the Indians. Add to which, ti^t 



mutual and long continaed injuries, between the whites on the one hand and the Indians on 
the other, had infused into the minds of each, a feeling of reciprocal hatred, which was con- 
tinually breaking forth into acts of common aggression. 

To conduct the business of the Indians in such circumstances, and to govern them, (as the 
Superintendant in fact must,) was in itself an affair of the utmost delicacy and difficulff, 
requiring the highest qualities of judgment, sagacity and firmness. But the task was rendered 
still more arduous by the peculiarsystem of the U. S, Government. Gov. Harrison was instruct- 
ed to pursue, sedulously, a policy of peace with the Indians, to avoid all appearance of a hostile 
and jealous disposition towards them ; to practice forbearance and conciliation- and tu cultivate 
friendly relations at every haprd. He was to pursue this policy along an exposed frontier, 
in the midst of numerous tribes of Indians, who, from the causes already specified, were 
unusually tierce, turbulent, and vindictive, and who were incessantly stimulated to acts of 
outrage by the agents of Great Britain. It will be conceived that in such circumstances, 
the pacific spirit ot our Government, while it imperfectly attained its object, never wholly 
staid the work of desolation, augmented greatly the labors of the Governor. With (it has 
been well said) the savage war-whoop yelling on one hand and a Government commanding 
peace on the other, — with a feeble settlement claiming protection at one point and a band of 
martial borderers demanding to be led to battle on another, — while the agents of a nation at 

peace with our own urged on the savages, and her military posts supplied them with arms, 

there can scarcely be imagined a post requiring the exertions of greater skill, prudence and 
firmness, than that of the Governor of Indiana. For him there could be neither repose nor 
safety. He led the life of a warrior, yet discharged the duties of the civil magistrate. While 
executing the laws, and founding the institutions of a new State, he was continually called 
to encounter danger in the defence of the homes of the people. Though compelled to restrain 
the Indians and the whites by force of authority, it was his duty to interpose with each as a 
minister of benevolence on the part of the United Slates. 

Yet all these multifarious and most arduous duties Governor Harrison fulfilled with fidelity 
and with honor, and while affording efficient protection to the citizens of the country and 
thus displaying all the talents of a great statesman and a brave ofiicer, he never sullied his 
name with any act of military violence or gratuitous cruelty; so that when war at length 
could no longer be averted, and it became incumbent on him to lead the forces of the Terri- 
tory into the field, he bore thither the stainless banner of,— not a wanton assailant ol the rights 
of others, but the patriotic defender of his country's altars and fire-side. '^ 

INTERCOURSE WITH TECUMTHE AND THE PROPHET. 

For, Strenuously as the United States Government, and Governor Harrison, acting under 
its orders, strove to avert a war, it became inevitable, through the operation of causes over 
which he had no control : namely, the persevering aggressions of Great Britain on the com- 
merce and public rights of the United States, which ended in war between the two nations 
preluded by Indian tiostilities in the Northwest. 

At all limes, as before stated, both during the Revolution and afterwards, as the incidents 
of St. Clair's and Wayne's campaign evinced, British agents were active in stirring up 
against us the Indians within the United State.!. The anticipation of a new war with the 
United States, redoubled their activity; and they found etTicient agents among the Indians 
themselves, in two Shawanee Chiefs, Tecumthe and his twin brother,, the Prophet. Tecum- 
the first began to be much known in 1806. He had conceived and matured a design,— the 
same which Pontiac had attempted in vain, — to combine all the western tribes for the destruc- 
tion of the western settlements. He was daring, energetic, and sagacious in character, a 
shrewd thinker, a fluent speaker, an able warrior, and a skilful negotiator, animated by the 
most inextinguishable hatred against the United States. He had for his coadjutor his 
brother Ol-li wa-chi-ca, called the Prophet, who, though inferior to Tecumthe in most respects, 
was yet capable of aiding his brother efliciently, by reason of his influence over the superstitious 
Indiansasa wi(?rfia'»e man, pretending to be inspired by the Great Spirit, and endowed bv him with 
power and wisdom, to expel the white men from the Valley of the Mississippi, to redeem the 
red men from their present degradation, and to restore to them their ancient exclusive power 
in the New World. Theysurroundedlhemselveswitha lawless band of desperate and reckless 
men, the outcasts of different tribes, whom they at length established at a principal rendez- 
vous on the Wabash, near the mouth of the Tippecanoe, — a place which gradually acquired 
the name of the Prophet's Town. 

Meanwhile, they were indefatigably employed in disturbing all the councils successively 
held, and endeavoring to prevent every treaty attempted to be made. They took up and pro- 
pagated the false idea, that all the lands in North America were the common property of all 
the tribes, and that no sale of any part could be valid without the consent of all ; and made 
this a pretext for interfering, whenever treaties were to be negociated by the United States 
with any portion of the Indians. Thus, bv instigating the Indians to acts of violence, and- by 
filling tiieir minds with fallacious notions of their power and their rights, Tecumthe, with 
the Prophet, constantly thwarted, and at last, to their own ruin, succeeded in defeating, 
all the efforts of General Harrison to maintain the peace of the frontiers. 



10 

General hosiilities first be^an to be openly threatened on occasion ot a treaty made bv the 
Delawares, Miamis and Potawaiamies, in 1809 at Fort Wayne, ceding to the United Sates 
a tract of land on the Wabash. When this treaty was made, Tecumthe was absent; but on 
his return, he threatened wiih death some of the chiefs concerned in the treaty. Hereupon, 
Governor Harrison despatched a message lo inquire the cause of dissatisfaction with the 
treaty; and lo assure him that any claim he mij,'ht have to the lands which had been ceded, 
were not etTected by the treat v; that he might come to Vincenncsand exhibit his pretensions; 
and if they were found to be valid, the land would either be given up or an ample compensa- 
tion made for it. 

Tecumihe accepted the invitation, but came with four hundred warriors completely armed, 
instead of thirty, as directed ; giving to the people of Vincennes just apprehension that 
treachery v/as intended. Tecumihe claimed for all the Indians of the country, a common 
right to all the lands in it; denied the right of any tribe to sell even lo one another, much less 
to strangers: and therefore, claimed that the treaty of Fort Wayne wa.s utterly void. Harri- 
son replied, that when the whites came to this Continent, they found the Miamis in occupation 
of all the country of the Wabash, at which time the Shawanees dwell in Georgia, from 
whence they were driven by il)e Creeks; that the iVliamis had consulted their own interest, 
as they had a right to do, in selling their own land on terms salislactory to them.-T?lves; 
and that the Shawanees had no light to come Irom a distant country, and undertake to control 
the Miamis in the disposition of their own properly. Scarcely had the interpreter finished 
speaking those words, whin Tecumihe fiercely exclaimed, " Ii is false!" and giving a signal 
to his warriors, they sprang to their Iceland raised their war-clubs, whi.e Tecumthe continued 
to address the Indians, in a passionate lone and with violent gesticulation. In this ennergencv, 
when every thing threatened the most fatal consequences to the surrounding whiles, who 
were chiertv unarmed citizens, collision was avoided by the intrepidity of the Governor 
He rose immediately, and drew his sword; but he restrained his guards, and calmly, birt 
authori.'ativi'ly, told 'recumthe, ih it " he was a bad man; that he would have no further talk 
with him; that he must return to his camp, and take his departuie (rom the settlements im- 
mediately ;" and with that, the council was broken up, and Tecumihe and his warriors, awed 
'y the intrepidity and self-poss-ession ot Harrison, withdrew in silence. 

The next morning, Tecumthe, perceiving that he had to deal with a man as vigilant and 
as bold as himselt,— one not to be daunted by the show of violence, nor circumvented by spe- 
cious wiles,— apologized for the affront he had given, and solicited that the council might be 
renewed, to which the Governor consented. At the second council, Tecumthe no longer at- 
tempted to intimidate Harrison by his violence, or, at any rate, kept a better guard over his 
tamper. He told the Governor that white men (British emissairies undoubtedly') had advised 
him to do ?.s he had done, and that he was determined to maintain the old boundary :— all 
which ihe Governor said he would report to the President, and here the council ended. 

Still anxious to conciliate the dangerous Chiet, Governor Harrison went, attended orily 
bv an interpreter, to his camp. Tecumihe received him with courtesy and respect; but sig- 
nified the iiUeniion not to recede from the grounds taken at the council;— and as neither Te- 
cumthe nor the Prophet was yet ready for open war, the mailer rested here lor a while. 

BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE. 

But, as hostilities between the United States and Great Britain, became more and more im- 
minent and certain, the audacity and violence ot the Indians increased. In ISIl, Tecumthe 
had assembled a new body of warriors at the Prophet's Town; and marauding parties roved 
towards the .settlements more frequent y than ever. In the public documents, there is a great 
body of evidence lo show that at that lime a general commotion pervaded all the Indian 
tribes. Me.^sengers went lo and Iro; the war bell was circulated; arms and ammunitions 
were obtained from Upper Canada, in quantities beyond the usual yearly issue of presents 
by the British; and thus every thing indicated the approach ot a rising against the United 
Slates. The commission of a number of murders on the frontiers of Illinois and Indiana, 
the usual forerunners of an Indian war, warned Governor Harrison to lake measures 
for the delence of the Territory, and induced the Government to direct him lo move 
with an' armed force towards Tippecanoe, the centre and head-quarters of all the in- 
trigues of the savages, and ihe resort of the most desperate and daring of their men, and 
wh'ere it was known that a thousand hostile Indians were assembled, whom he was directed 
lo disperse. 

Governor Harrison had collected a force of about nine hundred men, composed of the mili- 
tia and volunteers of Indiana; a small but gallant body of volunteers from Kentucky, and a 
deluchmenl of United Stales' troops. IIis iirst pfTort, like Wayne's, in the similar case 
before., was to prepare his troops lor victdry by drilling them thoroughly in person, and 
Ofo-anizing them for victory; and lo this in no small jiait, tl.e subsequent success was 
diie. Tims prepared, he began his march from Fort Harrison, on the Wabash, on the 20ih 
of October, 1811. His orders were mnsi positive lo avoid hostilities of any kind, or any 
de<^ree, not indispensably required. These instructions compelled him, though marching 
into a hostile country, where a nunaerous force of Indians awaited him, yec to acioa the de- 



11 

fensive, to ITeht only when attacked, and thus in fact to leave to the Indians to fight or not as 
they chose, and to select their own time for battle. He was to advance in the hope, and 
"with the endeavor, to induce the Indians to make peace; and yet to be ready at all times to 
encounter a treacherous foe, unknowing where or when the death struggle might com- 
mence. To meet these conditions, it was necessary to conduct the expediiion at all times as 
in face of the enemy f lo encamp in order of battle; and to march in such form as to be able 
to repel an assault at a moment's warning. Of course, the utmost vi;'ilance was requisite 
to guard against surprise; to avoid falling into ambuscades; and to secure the army from' 
attack in a disadvantageous position. All this Harrison accomplished, his own e.xperi- 
ance, wisdom and circumspection, being ably seconded by the zeal and vigilance of his offi- 
cers and troops. 

Proceeding thus, by a judicious feint, after reconnoitering and laying out a wagon road on 
one bank of the Wabash, which led the Indians lo expect he would pass up on that side, he 
suddenly changed his ro\Ue, crossed to the other bank, and thus marched :o the Prophet's Town, 
without molestation or hiudranre. He arrived on the Gth of November. He had previously sent 
forward some chiefs of the Delawaies and Miamis to endeavor to make peace; but had 
heard nothing from them. Interpreters were now sent with the advanced guard, for the same 
purposes; but were repelled with menace and insult. A second effort, with a flag of truce, 
was made and failed. Governor Harrison had been urged by some of hisofhcers to attack the 
Prophet's Town - but, determined to persevere in the pursuit of peace and in the spirit of 
his instructions, he refused to make the attack so long as any poss.bility remained, of the In- 
dians complying with the demands of the Government. At length, the Prophet sent three of 
his Indians to propose a suspension of hostilities and a meeting the next day to agree upon Ihc. 
terms of peace. But Governor Harrison knew too well the treacherous disposition of his ad- 
versary, to allovi" himself to be thrown off his guard. Two competent officers, Majors Clark 
and Taylor, were empli)yed to select a suitable place to encamp advantaseou&ly, as in the 
enemy'spresence, and where an attack could best be repelled. Accordingly, they examined' 
the enviions and selected an elevated spot, surrounded by wet prairie, and adequately supplied 
with wood and water; and as Major Taylor has since declared, the selection was made accord- 
ing to their best judgment, ratified by that of nine-tenths of the other officers. Indeed, the judi- 
cioa^ness of the selection they made, was proved, not only by the results, but by subsequent 
observation and reflection; for when the army of General Hopkins was there, in the follow- 
ing year, says M'Atfee, they all rmited in the opinion that a better spot to resist Indian.s, was 
not to be found in the whole country. 

Here, then, the army encamped, but with every thing ready for a night attack. The troops 
lay as they were to rise forbattie, in all theirclothes and accoutrements, the dragoons with their 
swords and pistols in their belts, and the infantry with their arms by their sides; and it was 
the Governor's invariable practice, says M'Affee, to be ready io mount his horse at a moment's 
warning. The entire camp, of course, was surrrounded by a cordon of sentinels, so posted as 
to give timely notice of any attack, and thus preclude as far as passible the danger of loss or 
confusion by surprise. 

The Governor had arisen before dawn on the morning of the 7th, — the sky being heavy 
with occasional rain, and clouds which obscured the moon and sat conversing with his aids 
by the fire, awaiting the signal, which was in a few minutes to have been given, for the troops 
to turn out. At this moment, one of the sentinels gave the alarm by firing his piece, which, 
was immediately followed by the war-whoop and a desperate charge of the Indians on the 
left flank. 

At that point, the guard giving way, the charge of the savages was received by the united 
regulars and volunteers under Captains Barton and Guiger, in the rear, who rose ready 
armed, formed in their appointed posts, and gallantly stood their ground. Upon the first 
alarm, the Governor mounted his horse and proceeded to the point of attack, and findinsr the 
line weakened there, ordered up two companies from the rear centre to reinforce it. Mean- 
while, the camp-fires had been extinguished so as not to afford light to the Indians. As the 
Governor rode across the camp. Major Joseph H. Daviess, of Kentucky, one of the most po- 
pular men in the West, asked permission to charge a body of Indians, concealed behind some 
trees near the left of the front line. In attempting this brave exploit, lie fell, as did also Colo- 
nel Isaac White, of Indiana, who served as a volunteer under him. After which, the charge 
was repeated and the Indians dislodged from their cover by Capt. Snelling. Perceiving the 
attack now to be severely felt on the right flank, the Governor led up another company to re- 
inforce it, while doing which his aid. Colonel Owen, of Kentucky, fell by his side. By this 
time, the battle had become general, and was maintained on all sides with desperate valor, un- 
til the day dawned, when the right and left flanks having been further strengthened, a simul- 
taneous charge was made against the Indians on each side, who were thus put to flight with 
great loss, and a glorious victory crowned the toils and dangers of the American troops. 

Without takincr a very active part in the contest, the Prophet reinained secure on a near 
enainence, chanting a war song, and animating his followers with the assurance of miraculous 
aid from the Great Spirit in their favor, so as to ensure to them a victory. Tecumthe himself 
was not present, being at the South, endeavoring to combine the tribes in that quarter against 
the United Stales. But, animated by the Prophet, the Indians fought with desperate and un- 



12 

"prececlented valor, hand to hand, .so as to render the battle of Tippecanoe one of the most me- 
morable anil decisive en;^agenients ever fought between the Indians and the whiles. The In- 
dians attHcked boldly, advancin;^ and retreating by a rattling .sound, made with deer hools. 

They were encountered with corresponding valorand resolution by Harrison's brave and spirit- 
ed men. The Governor himself was unwearied in his exertions, personally inspecting and co- 
operairnain allthe operations ol the engagement, ordering every important raovemeni.repeated- 
■ly leading the troops inio action as any change of their position became requisite, and sharing 
all the perils of the battle not only equally with the re.si, but more so, because his person was 
more conspicuous, on horseback, known to every Indian. Hrs intrepidity and self-po.ssession 
■were admired by all. In the healof the action, says the published journal of Adam Walker, a 
private soldier in the battle, " His voice was heard, and easily distinguished, giving his orders 
•an the same cool andcoUectv'd manner, with which he had been used to receive them on drill 
or parade. The confidence ol the troops in the General was unlimited." 

Indeed his exposure in the field, was not the only danger he incurred. If the Indians had 
met him in council as they at fust contemplated, it was a part of their plan to as.sassinate him ; 
and two Winnebagoes had undertaken the enterprise. When afterwards the Piophet con- 
<:luded to attack the Americans, a negro was engaged to enter the camp and murder the Go- 
vernor.; hut he was detected in the attempt, whilst waiting near the Governor's marquee, and 
afterwards tried, convicted of the purjiose, and senlencedto.be shot. But as the negro lay tied 
and staked to the ground awaiiiiig the hour of execution, the Governor could not resist the 
emotions of pity which his appearance excited, and ordered him to be discharged ; thus eviuc- 
ing the most compassionate feelings in associa;ion with the highest resolution and courage. 

The victory of Tippecanoe was justly deemed of the greatest importance to the country. If 
Harrison had been beaten, the triumphant bands of the Prophet, reinforced bv other tribes 
recruited to his standard by the influence of Tecuinthe, would have poured upon the settle- 
ments, tomahawk in hand, consigning the whole frontier to massacre and conflagration. The 
dci.i>ive blow struck at Tifipecanoe, not or ly broke the power of the openly hostile, but at 
©nee decided the wavering ami quelled the ri.-ingspiri: of the discontented; and restored peace 
and quiet to the exposed and alarmed frontier. Indeed, the battle field of Tippecanoe, where 
Harrison and the militia of Indiana, and the volunteers of Kentucky, won imperishable honors 
has biCome as classical ground in the memory of all patriotic hearts, and is now to be regard- 
ed as one of the monuments of the glory of the West. 

We shall be prepared, therefore, to learn, that in his message to Congress, soon afterwards 
Mr. Madison said: — 

"Congress will see, with satisfaction, the dauntless spirit and fortitude, victoriously displayed, by 
every description of the troojjs engaged, as well as the collected tirmness which distinguished their 
•cominatfder, on an occasion requiring the utmost exertion of valor and discipline. It may reasona- 
bly be expected that the good effects of a critical defeat and disjiersion of a combination of savages 
which ap[jears to have been spreading to a greater extent, will le experienced, not only in the ces- 
sation of the murders, and depredations committed on our frontier, but m the prevention of any bos- 
tile incursions otherwise to have been apprehended " 

The Legislature of Indiana, in their address, said: 

" The House of Representatives of Indiana Territory, in their own name, and in behalf of their 
constiutents, most cordially reciprocate the congratulations of your E.xcellency on the glorious result 
of the late sanguinary conflict with the Shawanee Prophet, and the tribes of Indians confederated 
with liim ; when we see displayed in behalf of our country not only the consummate abilities of the 
Geti«ral, but the heroism of the man ; and when we lake into view the benefits which must result to 
that country from those exertions, we cannot for a moment withhold our meed of applause." 

And the Legislature of Kentucky, on motion of Mr. Crittenden, 

" Resolved, That in the late campaign against the Indians on the Wabash, Governor Wm. H, 
Harrison has, in the opinion of this I.,cgislaiure, behaved like a hero, a patriot and a general ; and 
that for his cool, deliberate, skilt'ul and gallant conduct in the late battle of Tippecanoe, he well de- 
serves the warmest thanks of the nation." 

M.4J0R GENERAL OF THE KENTUCKY MILITIA. 

The tranquility which followed the battle of Tippecanoe vvaa the lull which precedes the 
storm. War with Gr at Britain was about to commence, and was actually declared on the 18th 
June, 1812. In anticipation of it, the Lake Indians in the United States, always kept under 
pay by Great Britain, and those in Upper Canada subject to her immediate aiithority, stood 
ready to dash at a moment's warning on the inhabitants of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. When 
the war came, it found the Nortliwest without any important garrisoned posts on the frontier, 
except Detroit, without militaiy depots and military stores, or munitions of war; but it found 
the brave and hardy population, of all classes and conditions, full of zeal in their country's 
defence, and prom])t to rush to the field. It became the immediate duty of all in authority ia 
the West to arm and embody the people suitably to the pubdc exigency, under the leadership 



13 

of a g'eneral of tried courage ati'd ability. Every eye was instinctively turned to Harrison as the 
man of the crisis ; and he was by acclamation called to head the American arras in the iXorth- 
v^est. 

Looking to the perils which threatened the country, Governor Harrison, in concert with 
Governor Edwards of Illinois, and Governor Scott of Kentucky, had for some time past been 
exerting himself indefatigably to prepare the people and the Government for the struggle. 
Soon alter war was declared, he repaired to Frankfort, at the earnest request of Governor Scott, 
to confer in regard to the disposition to be made of the troops of jfcentucky. He was re- 
ceived with most flattering testimonials of the respect and affection of the inhabitants. The 
first object was to succor Detroit, which it was immediately apprehended the British would 
speedily attack with all tlie force at their disposal. In fact, the news quickly came, first of the 
surrender of Chicago and Mackinac, and then that the British had summoned the northern 
tribes for the seige of Detroit. If this place fell, an immense frontier, including Western 
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri would be left exposed at the 
mercy of a remorseless foe. This catastrophe there was but too much reason to dread. 

General Hull had already sent an express to hasten up reinforcements from Kentucky.. 
At the same time, letters came from several of the principal officers of the garrison, exposing 
their want of confidence in their commander, and the apprehension occasioned by his misera- 
ble arrangements and apparent imbecility and cowardice, and expressing the common wish that 
Governor Harrison should accompany the reinforcements. la that wish the people of Ken- 
tucky warmly concurred. Governor Scott had levied a force of more than five thousand mi- 
litia and volunteers, commanded by some of the ablest men and most experienced officers in, tbje 
State, two thousand of which, were ordered for immediate service, to march to Detroit. Their 
feeling was universal that the command should be given to Harrison. To accomplish this object, 
as the powers held by him under the Federal Government were confined to the Territories, 
and though none but a citizen of Kentucky could hold a command in her militia, yet, yielding 
to the exigencies of the occasion, and fortified by the atlvice of Governor Shelby, Judge 
Todd, |Mr. Clay and others, Governor Scott gave to Harrison a brevet commission of Major 
General in the militia of Kentucky, and authorized him to take command of the detachment 
destined for Detroit. 

In the midst of the preparations which this responsible and most honorable trust imposed on 
General Harrison, intelligence of the disgraceful and cowardly surrender of Detroit arrived, and 
spread consternation far and wide through the countiy. This event only served to redouble the 
exertions and zeal of both officers and men. Universal disappointment ensued, when it became 
known, tliat, ignorant alike of the fall of Detroit and of the proceedings in Kentucky, General 
Winchester of the regular army was appointed by the Government to take the command. 
And though General Harrison received the appointment of Brigadier General in the army of 
the United States, he declined to accept or act under it, until he could learn whether his accept- 
ance would make him subordinate to General AVinchester. In this, he did but conform to the 
wi-shes and expectations of those around him, who were reconciled to march under Winchester 
only by the expectation that, when all the facts should be known to the War Department, Harri- 
son would be confirmed in the command. For by this time, says Mc Affee, "he had completely 
secured the confidence of every soldier in the army. He was affable and courteous in his 
manners, and indefatigable in his attention to every branch of business. His soldiers seemed 
to_ anticipate the wishes of their general: it was only necessary to be known that he 
wished something done, and all were anxious to risk their lives in its accomplishment. 
His men would have fought better and suifered more with him, than with any other general 
in America." 

_ Nevertheless, though considering his command under existing circumstances as merely pro- 
visional. General Harrison, learning that Fort Wayne was invested by a large body of Indians, 
would not allow any consideration personal to. himself to impede the public service, and without 
waiting for orders from the Government, he hastened to the relief of that place by way of Day- 
ton and Piqua. He reached that place on the 12th September. His troops were in fine spirits, 
and he confidently anticipated a successful issue to the expected encounter with the enemy ; 
but he found the besieging army had abandoned its position and fled at his approach. 

Previous to the arrival of General Wincliester, he continued to employ himself in various 
measures to strike terror into the hostile Indians. Some detached independent operations of this 
class also occurred in the same autumn ; such as the gallant defence of Fort Harrison by Cap- 
tain (now General) Zachary Taylor, attacked by a body of Kickapoos and Winnebagoes; the 
expedition of General Hopkins of Kentucky against the Indians on the Wabash ; and that of 
Governor Edwards and Colonel Russell to tlie head of Peoria lake. 

On giving up the command, General Harrison retired from the army to resume his duties as 
Governor of Indiana, having then entered the field only because there was no other oflicer to 
take the command, and cheerfully acquiescing afterwards in the decision of the Government to 
bestow it on General Winchester. 

COMMANDER OF THE NORTWESTERN ARMY. 

No sooner, however, did the President become acquainted with the actual state of affairs. 



14 

and learn that General Harrison was the choice of the whole western people, and that he was 
alruady engaged in extensive preparations for active service, tiian the chief command in the 
Northwest was assigned to him. Orders to this effect reached him at Piqaa on his return, by 
which he was required, alter providing for the protection of the Western frontiers, to retake 
Detroit, and with a view to the conquest of Upper Canada, to penetrate that country as far as 
the forces under his command would in his judgment justily. The army placed under him, 
consisting of regular troops, and militia and volunteers of Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia and Penn- 
sylvania, amounted to ten thousand men. With the designation of tliese very general objects 
to be accomplished, broad authority was given him lo conima/id such means as lui'^hl be ■prucli- 
cable, to exercise Ids uwn discretion, and to act in all cases according to his own judgment. In a 
\Yord, complete and discretionary power was conferred on him to condueT all the operations of 
war in the Northwest, — subject, always, to the three specific objects prescribed by the Depart- 
ment, namely, the internal defence of the country, the recapture of Detroit, and the invasion of 
Canada. 

This extensive command, — more extensive than was ever intnisted before to any officer of 
the United States since the Revolution, — extensive, not only as to the wide expanse of country 
it embraced, but also the nature of thei)owers conferred, was placed in the hands of General Har- 
rison by President Maifipo.i, whose long and intimate official Knowledge of the officer employed, 
gave him the best possible means of jiniging as to that officer's trustworthiness and capability. 
Kor did the result disappoint the President's expectations. General Harrison's cimmand 
covered a vast, frontier, stretching along the great Lakes, with harbors and rivers accessible 
to the enemy, and with a large number of scattered posts and exposed settlements, which he 
was required to defend against a host of warlike Indians. His forces were either ucdisciplined 
recru ts, or militia and volunteers, full of the ardor, it is true, of patriots and freemen, but en 
listed for limiti-'d periods, destitute of the habits or experience of the soldier, and to be h' let 
in obedience by personal influence, rather than force of authority. Such troops were unques- 
tionably competent to the defensive purposes contemplated for tliemby the Goverarnent. 13ut, 
in addition t> this, General Harrison was to operate offensively ; he was to repair the disasters 
of Hull's misconduct; to retake Detroit, and cany the war into the enemy's country; and, in 
doing this, he was to act against the experienced officers and well-disciplined troops of Britain. 
Besides wliich, the point of attack was remote from the source of his supplies, while the inter- 
vening country was a trackless and swampy wilderness, almost impassable for heavy wagons, 
swarming with hostile savages, and where the troops, though ever so little encumb red witli bag- 
gage, could advance but slowly, and witli incessant labor; and the difficulties thus caused were 
tenfold augmented by the fact, that many of the most indispensable munitions of war were yet 
wantiu"-, — magazines and depots to be provided, —and a commissariat, covering so extensive and 
so impracticable a theatre of operations, to be created almost out of nothing. That delays, and 
suboidina'e reverses, should have impeded the progress of General Harrison, amid all these diffi- 
culties, was in the inevitable course of things. No power short of one to work miracles could 
have sufficed to prevent this. The wonder is, that General Harrison succeeded at all. And 
yet, in tlie face of the immense embarrassments and impediments which surrounded him, he, by- 
persevering energy, firmness and courage, overcame them all, accomplished every one of the ob- 
jects prescribed to him, and, within one short year from the time he commenced his under- 
taking, gloriously concluded it, by the final victory of the Thames, achieved in the very 
heart of Upper Canada. 

Wlif'n General Harrison received his orders, the first consideration was, by what plan nf 
operations were the prescribed oi>jects of the Government to be attained 1 Smarting under the 
sense of the disgrace Hull had brousrhl on the country, and san<ruine in the consciousness 
of their own courage, the men of the West had at first turned their thoughts to the idea of the 
recapture of Detroit by a coup dc Tiiain. Furtlipr reflection satisfifd them of the impracticability 
of effjctin" this, without the previous concentration of sup[)lies. and the armament of parti.'ular 
points, to support the advancing forces. If troops could be advanced in sufficient numbers in 
tha coursj of the autumn or winter, simultaneously with the collection of rations and stores at 
secure posts, and the fortification of others to be held as points d'appui for the intended move- 
nieiits, then al)low cnulil at once be stv\ick at Maiden, so as to break up the power of the enemy, 
and the recapture of Di'.troit madecertain. Mi>ansvhilp, in these operations, pointing at thp ulterior 
object as the me.in one, the incidental one would likewise he attiiined, of holding in check the 
British and their savage allies, and thus guarding the safety of the frontier States. 

In this view, General Harrison fixed upon the following plan of operations. The point of 
concentration, from which the principal movement on the enemy was to lie made, was the Rap- 
ids of the Miami of the Lakes, with a military base extending from Upper Sandusky on the 
right, to Fort Defiance on the left. General Winchester was to conduct the left division, con- 
sjisting of troops already assembled at Fort Defiance, and some Kentucky regiments at or near 
St. wTiry's; Gen. Tupper commanded the centre division of the Ohio troops, assembled at Fort 
Mi-,Arthur; and the right division, composed of Virginia and Pennsylvania troops, was reserved 
for the personal i-omnuuid of General Harrison himself. Each of these rolumns was to move by 
a separate line of operation, terminating at the Rapids. " This," says Colonel Wood, an accom- 
plished engineer, the competency of whose judgment is admitted on all hands, — " was an ex- 



15 

ctllent plan ; for, by sending the corps by different routes, with a view of concentrating some- 
where in tlie neiijliborhood of tlie enemy, the march of the army would not only be expedited', 
but the frontier much more effectually protected/' And to the execution of the plan, thus judi- 
ciously conceived, and fully approved by the Governmentj General Harrison proceeded to de- 
vote all his own energies, and the resources of men and means at his command. 

Before describing the events of the campaign, there are two subjects of personal detail, 
connected witii those events, which require to be touched upon here. 

One is, the toils and hardships, to which General Harrison, in common with the troops 
Tinder him, was exposed. For lie chose to participate in all the privations, as -well as the 
dangers, of the campaign. It is. difficult to describe, — it is impossible for those who pass 
their lives in the ordinary civil or business pursuits, to conceive, in all their force, — the sufferings 
of the soldier, marching through a wilderness country, exposed to all the vicissitudes of the 
weiither, amid the rains of autumn and the snows of winter, with necessarily imperfect sup- 
plies of clothing, food, ami equipage, and subject at the same time to all the requisitions of mil- 
itary duty and peril. Honor to the brave men who left their happy homes to do and dare 
all this, end who, with self-sacrificing patriotism, rushed to defend the firesides of their coun- 
try and its threatened honor, from the assaults of the foreign foe with his scarce more sav- 
age allies ! 

"The other subject is, the deportment of General Harrison to the peculiar troops under his 
connnand, and the means by which he secured their obedience and their co-operation amid all 
the hardships of the service. Theae troops were chiefly citizen soldiers, freemen serving volunta- 
rily in the ranks of patriotism, high-spirited and generous, the choice men of the States to 
which tliey belonged. Such men were not to be treated as the common soldiers of a regular 
army. To secure their hearty service, nay, to have their obedience at all, the General under 
whom they served, must possess their confidence, their respect, their affection. Such was tha 
relation between General Harrison and his troops. His proved talents, his eminent public 
services, his energy of character, his judgment, commanded their respect; his coiisiderateness, 
forbearance, good temper, and conciliatory manner, won their attachment. Their commander, 
it is true, exacted of them the severest service, as the necessities of the country required he 
should; he was yet their companion in peril, their fellow-citizen, their friend. During the 
whole period of his command, lie never caused nor permitted a degrading punishment to be in- 
flicted on a militia soldier. If the fault committed were an individual one, he dealt with it by 
private admonition : if masses of men were concerned, he attained his object by oral addresses 
or by general order.*, and thus his cl-oquent exliortations reclaimed them to their duty and their 
country's cause, whenever, amid the difficulties and dangers of the campaign, they were dis- 
posed to falter. 

An incident, which occurred on his arrival in Winchester's camp, at Fort Defiance, illustrate 
this. Soon after he had retired to rest, he was awakened by Col. Allen and Major Hardin to 
be informed tliat Allen's regiment was in open mutiny, determined to abandon the expedition 
and return home; and that all their own attempts to bring their men back to their duly, were ut- 
terly in vain. General Harrison ordered the alarm to beat ihe ensuing morning instead of a 
reveillie. This brought all the surprised troops to arms, and when the troops paraded at 
their posts, they saw, with new surprise. General Harrison appear among them. He began by 
lamenting the discontents which existed among men he so highly esteemed ; but it was because 
of its dishonor to them ; for Government could dispense with their services; and all those, who 
were disheartened that they did not find in the woods, the luxuries and comforts of home, had full 
liberty to return. But what would be their recL-ption from the old and young, who had greeted 
them on their inarch to the scene of war, as their country's gallant defenders l To be seen re- 
turning before the expiration of their term of service, without having struck a blow! If their 
lathers did not drive their degenerate sons back to recover their tarnished honor on the field 
of battle, would not their mothers and sisters hiss them from their presence 1 But, if they 
were prepared thus to encounter the scorn and contempt of their frit-nds at home, they could 
go, arid the Government would look elsewhere fur braver and better men to defend the country 
in its hour of need. This strain of indignant remonstrance, and of mingled regret and reprov- 
al, was irresistible; the generous men of Kentucky returned by acclamation to their duty; 
and no more faithful troops than they, served in that whole war. 

To i-psume the narrative of events, — the autumn of the year was passed in laborious prepa- 
ration for active service; in collecting troops, in building forts, in erecting depots, in cutting 
roads, in opening resources for supplies, and in organizing the various departments of the army. 
So long as hope was tenable, General Harrison persevered in the hope to be able to strike the 
meditated felow in the current season ; but as winter approached, the difficulty of getting forward 
supplies increased; and he wa.s reluctantly compelled to postpone his final advance until he 
should be able to take advantage of the ice and snow for transportation and the passage of 
rivers. B 'fore this time came, however, the unfortunate movement of General Winchester, on 
the river Rnisin, led to anew series of important but unf-xpected incidents. 

According to the plan and the gi^neral instructions for the campaign, General Harrison ex- 
pei'ted that on his arrival at Upper Sandusky, in Decemlier, he should be advised of tlie advance 
of Winchester to the Rapids. But Winchester did not march from the mouth of the Glaize until 
the 30th of December; and on the 10th of January reached the Rapids, where he established and 



16 

fortified his canrp in a ijood position. In a few days, messengers came to the camp from French- 
town on the river Ilaisin, earnestly entreating Winchester to send a force to protect them against 
an expected attack of Indians. Winchester consented; and sent Colonel Lewis and Colonel 
Allen with two detachments of upwards of six hundred men to Frenchtown. They found the 
enemy already there, pre[)ared to receive them; and immediately charged the combined British 
and Indians, and j,'ained a decisive and most brilliant victory. If they had then retired, it would 
have been well; but (lushed withtriumjih, they resolved to maintain tlie position ; and Winches- 
ter proceeded to Frenchtown to support them. If, then, he had adopted suitable precautions, 
the error of making tliis detached movement, without advice of the Commander-in-chief, or 
means of aid from him, mis^ht have passed off well; Ijut Winchester, for the first time during 
the whole campaign, neglected to fortify his position, or to guard against the approach of 
troops from the near post of Maiden, where he knew the enemy were in great strength. The con- 
sequences to Ills command were most disastrous. They were surprised on the morning of the !22d, 
by a body of f3ritish and Indians under Colonel Proctor, who earned an eternity of infamy, — 
fur liimself and for the country which rewarded his services on this occasion with honor, — by 
leaving the wounded [)risoners to be murdered by the Indians. Winchester himself aiad some 
few others who were aijle to march, were conducted to Maldm ; but a large portion of the Ameri- 
cans were either tomahawked on the spot, or murdered in cold blood afterwards ; and Frenchto w 
was committed to the flames. It is idle and totally impossible to relieve the Britisii arms from 
the ignominy and infamy of the tvansaclion ; for much of the butchery happened under the very 
eyes of Proctor; and his wliole conduct in the affair was alike brutal and mean. He chose to 
feed the Indians with blood in order to whet their appetite for it, and thus make them the bette^ 
auxili.iri 'S of Britain. But for tiiese atrocities, he was hirnsclf destined, ere long, to receive a 
part of the retribution hemerited, at the hands of Harrison himself". 

How different has been the conduct of the Americans ! At near the same time, Colonel Camp- 
bell had conducted successfully an expedition against the Indians ontheMississinneway. In the 
oi"der issued on the return of the expedition. General Harrison says: 

" It is with the sincerest pleasurc that the General has heard, that the most punctual obe 
dience was paid to his orders, in not only saving all the women and children, but in sparing all 
the warriors who ceased to resist; and that even wlien vigorously attacked by the enemy, the 
claims of mercy prevailed over every s^nse of their own danger, and this heroic band respected 
the lives of their prisoners. Let an account of murdered innocence be opened in the records of 
heaven, against our enemies alone. The American soldier will follow the example of his Gov- 
ernment ; and the sword of the one will not be rais'=!d against the fallen and helpless, nor the 
gold of the other be paid for the scalps of a massacred enemy." 

How nobly do such conduct and such sentiments contrast with the miscreant acts of Proctor! 

If the m.issacre of the river Raisin filled the West with sorrow, it also awakened there a sense 
of indignation and outrage, of which the effects were afterwards seen. Its immediate influence 
was prejudicial to the objects of the campaign. Winchester's movement had been, not only 
without the knowledge or consent of Harrison, l)ut contrary to his views and plans f)r the conduct 
of the campaign. When he heard that the movement had been made, he and those about him, 
felt that it was to the last degree imprudent, and looked for nothing less from it than the certain 
and in vitahle destruction of the left wing of tiie army, which liad thus thrown itself into the 
very jaws of the enemy, and away from the possibility of succor. — On the evening of tiie lOth, 
being at Upper Sandusky, he received from Colonel Perkins, at Lower Sandusky, intelligence lor 
the first time, tliat Winchester, having arrived at the Rapids, meditated some unknown move- 
ment against the enemy. Alarmed at this, and ignorant what it implied. General Harrison 
gave orders for the advance of troops and artillery, and hastened to Lower Sandusky himself. 
Here he was met by information from the Rapids of the march of Colonel Lewis to Frenchtown. 
Fresii troops were immediately put in motion by farced marches for the Rapids; to which point 
he hiinsdf pushed with the utmost speed. All the disposable troops at the Rapids, and others, 
as they came in, were ordered on with anxious expedition; but they were met on tlie road 
by the fugitives from the field of battle, and nothing remain 'd but to protect them and the house- 
less peofile of Frenchtown. Iti short, all possible eflorts were made to protect Winchester from 
the apprehended consequences of his own ill-advised acts. 

After this, in the expectation of an attack on the position at the Rapids, the army fell back to 
the Portage, to admit of an expected reinforcement under General Leftwich; on the arrival of 
which, the position at the Rapids on the east bank of the iVIiami, was resumed, and strongly 
fortified, as the winterquartersof the army; it being called Camp Meigs, in honor of the Gover- 
nor of Ohio. • 

This iiosition being attacked by the British, became the scen'of a brillianttriutnph to the arms 
of the United States. So soon as it became known that the attack was contemplated, General 
Harrison, having made arrangements for strong reinforcements to follow him, repaired to Camp 
Meigs to conduct tiie defence of it in person. The enemy made his appearance on the '26th 
Aoril ; consisting of a numerous force, British and Indians, commanded by General Proctor; 
who, having ascended on the north side of the Miami in boats, landed at old Fort Miami, and 
proceeded to construct three powerful batteries, directl\' opposite the American camp. Mean- 
while, our troops had thrown up a breastwork of earth, twelve feet in height, traversing the 



17 

eamp in raar of t!»e teals, so that wlien tha batteries of th« enemy 'jrer» completed and mountad 
and his fira opened, the tents of the Aniericanti being struck und removed to tha rear of the 
traverse, were completely sheltered and protected. A severe fure was now kept up on both sidea 
until the 4tii of May, when intelligence reached the camp of the approach of the expected rein- 
forcements, composed of a brigade of Kentucky militia under General Green Clay. 

General Harrison immediately determined to make a bold effort, by a sortie from the camp, 
combined with an attack of the enemy's lines by General Clay, to raise the siege. Orders 
accordingly were despatched to General Clay, requiring hiui that, instead of forming an imme- 
diate junction with the garrison, he should detach eight hundred of his men on the opposite side 
of the river, where two of the British batteries were, turn and take the batteries, spike the can- 
non, and destroy the gun-carriages, and then regain the boats as speedily as possible, while 
the remainder of the brigade should land and fight their way into the camp, so as to favnr a 
sortie to be made by the garrison against the third and only remaining British battery. This 
plan was ably eonceived, and promised the best results. General Clay, after detaching Colonel 
Dudley to land on the west side of the Miami, fought his way safely into the camp. A part of the 
garrison also, under Colonel (now General) Miller, consisting in part of regular troops and the 
residue militia and Kentucky volunteers, gallantly assaulted and carried the battery on the east- 
ern bank, made a number of prisoners, and drove the British and Indians from their lines. 

Meanwhile, Dudley had landed his men, and charged and carried the two batteries without 
the loss of a man. Unhappily these gallant citizens were not sufficiently aware of their exposed 
situation, and of the necessity of retreating to their boats, in punctual observance of their orders, 
so soon as they should have destroyed the enemy's artillery. Instead of this, they were, with- 
out due consideration, drawn mto a fight with some straggling Indians, and so detained until 
Proctor had time to interpose a strong force between them and the means of retreat. The result 
•was the destruction rather than defeat of the detachment, for three-fourths of it were made cap- 
tives or slain. The British arms were again dishonored by giving up the prisoners to be mas- 
sacred by the Indians. Dudley and many of his companions were tomahawked at once. 
Others of the prisoners were put into Fort Miami, for the Indians to stand on the ramparts and 
fire into the disarmed crowd. Those Indians, who chose, selected their victims, led them to the 
gateway, and there, under the eye of General Proctor and in tke presence of the whole British, 
army, 77iurdered and scalped them. Not until Tecumthe came up from the batteries did the 
slaughter cease. " For shame ! it is a disgrace to kill defenceless prisoners !" — he exclaimed, thus 
displaying more of humanity and civilization than Proctor himself. 

Unfortunate as this incident was, the events of the day satisfied Proctor that he could not 
continue the siege with any hope of success. He resolved to retreat, to cover which, he sent in 
a flag of truce, requiring the immediate surrender of the American post and army, as '• the only 
rneans left for saving the latter from the tomahawks and scalping knives of the savages." Con- 
sidering this base and insolent message unworthy of any serious notice, General Harrison simply 
admonished Proctor not to repeat it. With which manly and decided answer Proctor bein* 
perforce content, hastily broke up his camp, and retreated in disgrace and confusion towards 
Maiden. 

In May following, however, Proctor, thinking to surprise Fort Meigs, made a second attack 
upon it, with a large force of British regulars and Canadians, and several thousand Indians 
under Tecumthe, but was again obliged to retreat in disgrace. After which, Proctor landed a 
part of his force at Lower Sandusky, with a view to reduce Fort Stephenson. This was a 
mere out-post of little importance; and General Harrison, acting with the unanimous advice of 
his council of war, had sent orders to Major Croghan, who commanded the garrison, to evacuate 
the fort, and make good his retreat to head-quarters, provided the enemy should approach the 
place with artillery, and a retreat be practicable. But the first step taken by Proctor was to 
isolate the fort by a cordon of Indians, thus leaving to Major Croghan no choice but between 
resistance and submission. He then demanded of Croghan to surrender, adding his customary 
declaration, that otherwise he could not protect the garrison from massacre by the Indians in 
case the fort should be taken. To this atrocious threat, as unjustifiable by any of the usages of 
war as it was cowardly and discourteous, Croghan calmly replied, that " when the fort should 
be taken there would be none left to massacre, as it would not be given up while a man was able to 
fight." With his small garrison this brave young officer gallantly maintained the post, and 
repulsed the assaults of Proctor. Much idle censure has been cast upon General Harrison 
because of this affair. To which it is sufficient here to say that, while his orders were such as 
the circumstances justified and required, and were fully approved and sanctioned by the most 
competent judges on the spot, Croghan himself bearing witness to the penetration and able 
generalship of his measures, so the defence itself, so successfully made in compliance with the 
very contingency contemplated in the orders, was in the highest degree honorable to the brave 
garrison and its young commander. 

BATTLE OF THE THAMES. 

The time was now at hand when General Harrison and his army were to reach the full com- 
pletion of all the contemplated objects of the expedition. 

2 



18 

Anioiig tlie eni'ht'iil recomniendaiions of General Harrison to the Ciovenimeut llie year before, 
and immediately alter he commenced operations, hnd been that of constructing and equipping a 
naval armament on the Lakes. In one letter lie says: "Admitting that Maiden and Detroit are 
both taken, Mackinaw and St. Joseph will both remain in the liands of the enemy until we can 
create a force capable of contending with the vessels which tlie British have in Lake Alichigan, 
&c." And again, in another letter : " Should an offensive operation be suspended until spring, 
it is my decided opinion that the cheapest and most effectual plan will be to obtain command of 
Lake Erie. This being once effected, every difficulty will be removed. An army of four 
thousand men, landed on the north side of the Lake, below Maiden, will reduce that place, retake 
Detroit, and with the aid of the fleet, proceed down the Lake to co-operate with the army from 
Niagara." These sagacious suggestions being repeatedly and strenuously urged Ly him, and 
reinforced also from other quarters, were adopted and acted upon by the Government. Com- 
modore Perry was commissioned to build, equip, and command the contemplated licet; and, on 
the 10th of September, with an inferior force, he met the enemy, and gained the brilliant victory 
of Lake Erie. 

Meanwhile, Colonel Richard M. Johnson, then a Member of Congress from Kentucky, had 
devised the organization of two regiments of mounted militia, which he was autliorized by th« 
Government to raise, as well for service against the Indians as to co-operate with Harrison. 
Colonel Johnson crossed the country to Lower Sandusky, where he received orders from the 
War Department to proceed to Kaskaskia to operate in that quarter ; but, by the interference of 
Harrison, and at the urgent request of Colonel Johnson, — who said for himself and his men that 
the first object of their hearts was to accompany Harrison to Detriot and Canada, and to 
partake in the dan>;er and honor of that expedition, under an officer in whom they had confi- 
dence, and who had approved himself " to be wise, prudent, and brave," — the orders of the De- 
partment were couruennanded, and Colonel Johnson attained his wish. 

General Harrison now prepared to strike the great blow. Aided by the energetic efforts of 
Governor Meigs, of Ohio, and Governor Shelby, of Kentucky, he had ready on the southern shore 
of Lake Erie, by the middle of September, a competent force destined for the immediate invasion of 
Canada. Between the 16th and the 24th of September the artillery, military stores, provisions, 
and troops, were gradually embarked, and on the 27th the whole army proceeded to the Canada 
shore. ''Remember the river R.aisin," said General Harrison, in his address to the troops, 
" but remember it only whilst victory is suspended. The revenge of a soldier cannot be grati- 
fied on a fallen enemy." The army landed in high spirits; but the enemy had abandoned his 
strong hold, and retreated to Sandwich, — after dismantling Maiden, burning the barracks and 
navy yard, and stripping the adjacent country of horses and cattle. General Harrison encamped 
that night on the ruins of Maiden. 

No time was lost in resuming the pursuit of Proctor. Colonel Johnson's mounted regiment 
came up and supplied the cavalry wanting for the pursuit. Two days only were occupied in 
re-establishing the civil government of Michigan, and assigning to it a defensive corps, in orga» 
nizing a portion of the army for rapid movement, and in giving to the whole of it an order of 
march and battle. It was not until the 5th of October that Proctor was overtaken, at a place ever 
memorable as the battle ground of one of the most honorable and decisive actions fought during 
the war. On that day the enemy was discovered in a position skilfully chosen, in relation as 
well to local circumstances as to the character of his troops. A narrow strip of dry land, flanked 
by the river Thames on the left and by a swamp on the right, was occupied by his regular infantrj' 
Rnd artillery, while on the right flank lay Tecumthe and his followers, on the eastern margin of 
the swamp. But, notwithstanding the judicious choice of the ground. Proctor had committed the 
error of forming his infantry in open order. Availing himself of this fact, and aware that 
troops so disposed could not resist a charge of mounted men, he directed Colonel Johnson to dash 
through the enemy's line in column. Tiie movement was made with brilliant success. The 
mounted men charged with promptitude and vigor, broke through the line of the enemy, formed 
in the rear, and assailed the broken line with a success seldom equalled, for nearly the whole of 
the British regular force were either killed, wounded, or taken. On the Ic-fl, the Indians rushed on 
the mounted men there, and fiercely contested the ground for a short time, until Tecumthe fell, 
when his men gave way to the Americans. Proctor, who had saved himself and a part of his 
.s\iite by a base desertion of his troops, in keeping with his character, was now strenuously but 
unsuccessfully pursued. But the defeat of the enemy was now complete. All his baggage and 
military stores, together with his official papers, fell into Harrison's hands. Several field 
pieces also, which had been taken from the British in the revolutionary war at Saratoga and 
Yorktown, but which Hull had shamefully surrendered at Detroit, were again captured, and 
were honorable trophies of victory. 

In this battle Governor Shelby, of Kentucky, commanded the troops of his State, and Colonel 
(General) Cass and Commodore Perry acted as volunteer aids to_General Harrison. 

" Thus fortunately terminated an expedition," says General Armstrong, " the results of which 
were of high importance to the United States : a naval ascendency gained on Lakes Erie and 
Superior; Maiden destroyed ; Detroit recovered; Proctor defeated ; the alliance between Great 
Britain and the savages dissolved, and peace and industry restored to our widely extended 
Western frontier." In a word, Harrison had gloriously accomplished, by his own abilities 
and the co-operation of the gallant people of the West, all that he undertook in assuming the 
eomraand of the American forces in ths Northwest. 



19 

The newtj of this great victory was received throughout the Uiuted Slates with universal 
rejoicings and gratuiations. in his Message to Congress of the 7ih Decumber, ldl3, Mr. 
Madison spoke of the result as " signally nonorable to Major General Harrison, by whose 
military talents it was prepared.'' •' i'ne victory of Harrison/' said Mr. Cheves on the floor 
of Congress, " was such as would have secured to a. Roman general, in the best days of the 
republic, the honors of a triumph." He put an end to the war in the uppermost Canada." " The 
blessings," said Governor Snyder, of Pennsylvania, in his message to the Legislature of that 
State, "of thousands of women and children, rescued from tlie scalping-knife of the ruthless 
savage of llie wilderness, and from the still more savage Proctor, rest on Harrison and his gal- 
lant army." It was well said by a prominent Virginia press, of Harrison's despatch after the 
battle, that in his letter he had done justice to every one but himself; and that the world must 
therefore do justice to the man, who was too modest to be just to lumself. And without referrinjj 
to other cotemporaneous testimonies of public gratitude and respect, it will be sutlicient to add 
the following resolution, passed by both branches of Congress,and approved 4iti of April, 1818: 

"Eesohed by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America m Con- 
gress assembled, That the thanks of Congress be, and they are hereby presented to Major General 
VVdiiam Henry Harrison and Isaac Shelby, late Governor of Kentucky, and ihroucrh them to the 
otficers and rnen under their command, for their gallantry and good conduct in defeating the com- 
bined British and Indian forces under Major General Proctor on the Thames, in Upper Canada, 
on the 5th day of October, 1S13, capturing the British army, with their baggage, camp equipacre, 
and artillery ; and that the President of the United States be requested to cause two Gold JMcdaU 
to bo struck, emblematical of tins triumph, and presented to General Harrison, and Isaac Shelby, 
late Governor of Kentucky." 

Having thus entirely defeated the enemy in Upper Canada, Harrison advanced with a part of 
his army to the Niagara frontier, and thence to Sacketi's Harbor, where he left the troops and 
proceeded to the seat of Government, and then to Ohio, where his immediate duties required 
his presence. In the plan of the ensuing campaign General Armstrong, the Secretary jof 
War, saw fit to assign to General Harrison the command of a now comparatively unimportant dis- 
trict, while active service against Canada was entrusted to others. That an oflicer in the prime 
of life, bred to combat under Wayne, who had signalized his name in the memorable triumph 
of Tippecanoe, won the brilliant victory of the Thames, and by his courage and skill given 
peace to the Northwest, reconquered Michigan, and gained possession of a large part of Upper 
Canada, — that such an officer should not be continued in active service naturally occasioned sur- 
prise. But though the causes of it were veiled from the public eye, yet the agency and motives 
became visible, when the Secretary of War, soon afterwards, not only designated a subordinate 
officer within General Harrison's district for a particular duty, but also transmitted directly to 
that officer orders to take troops from the district without consulting its commander. On 
receiving notice of this. General Harrison, justly indignant, addressed to the Department a 
letter of resignation, with a notification to the President. Hearing of this, Governor Shelby- 
wrote a remonstrance to the President, expressing the highest opinion of Harrison's military 
talents and capacity to command, derived from actually serving under him, and declaring the 
belief that in the arduous duties he performed no officer had ever displayed more energy or exhibited 
greater capability. But the Secretary of V/ar hastily assumed the right, Mr. Madison being 
absent in Virginia, to accept General Harrison's resignation, without which, it is believed, the 
President would have decided otherwise ; and thus, in the subs>iquent campaigns, the country was 
deprived of the abilities of him '• who," in the words of Colonel Johnson, " during the late war 
was longer in active service than any other general officer, was perhaps oftener in action than 
any of them, and mver sustained a defeat." For General Harrison, with the disitcrestedness 
and love of honor which has always distinguished him, would not continue to enjoy the high 
rank he held in the army, and the emoluments it conferred, without he could be rendering at the 
same time an equivalent service to the Republic. 

INDIAN COMMISSIONER. 

But General Harrison did not the less continue to receive new marks of the confideiiee ol 
Mr. Madison. 

In the summer of 1814, he was appointed, in conjunction with Governor Shelby and Gene- 
ral Cass, to treat with the Indians in the Northwest, at Greenville, the old head quarters ot 
General Wayne. 

In 1815, after the peace of Ghent, and in the execution of the provisions therein for the pa- 
cification of the Indians, General Harrison was placed at the head of the commission for 
treating with the important tribes of the Wyandott,^, Shawanees, Ottawas, Winnebagoes, 
Chippewas, Delawares, Senecas, Potawatimas, and Miamis, at Spring Wells. 

MEMBER OF CONGRE.SS AND OF THE OHIO LEGISLATURE. 

Hitherto, we have followed General Harrison through a long series of public duties and 
services, both civil and military, for a period of twenty-five years of active life ; in fifteen of 
which we have seen him employed in the highest and mof.t arduous public trusts, whether a* 



20 

the political head or the luililaiy commander, In the great region ol the West, which has 
been the sceneot his toils and his triumphs. Pre-eminent as he wa.sin thelield when his country 
called him there, yet in the character of a civil ruler, as a negotiator, as a chief magistrate, — 
which for the greater part of the time he was, — he had shown himself equally preeminent. For 
a short period only ot his early Hie he had appeared before the nation as a member of a legisla- 
tive body ; but then with distinguished capacity for public usefulness. In 1816, he became 
a"-ain a member of Congress, being elected a Representative Irom the Slate ol Ohio, and con- 
inaing for three years, after which he became a member of the Senate of that Slate ; 
and in 1824, he "was elected a Senator in Congress Irom that State. General Har- 
rison was amply qualified for the legislative duties he was thus called to perform, not 
merelv bv the possession of a high order of intellect, a cultivated mind, long and intimate fa- 
miliarity with afiairs, and great political and general acquiremenls,but also as an animated and 
ready speaker, fluent in language, plain, but not ungraceful in manner, eminently happy in 
extemporaneous address, and endowed with apt and ready skill in bringing the resources of his 
mind to bear upon any given subject : — all which traits characterised his cursory debates as 
well as more formal speeches in Congress. 

It would far exceed the necessary limits of these Outlines, to enter minutely into the review 
of General Harrison's acts and opinions during the period of this his service in Congress. 
These alone, with the ofhcial papers which proceeded from his pen, whilst at the head of af- 
fairs in the Northwest, would constitute a volume. 

Of the subjects, however, which received particular attention from him, some deserve lobe 
mentioned, for their intrinsic importance, and the value of his eflorts in regard to them. Such 
are the organization ol the militia; the inlrodtfction ol a more equal system ol mililary educa- 
tion than now exists; the recognition of the independence of the Spanish American repub- 
lics; the iinproveuient of the moral condiiion of the army by augmenting the inducements to 
respectability on the part of the non-commissioned officers and soldiers ; the introduction of 
uniformity as to mililary pensions ; and above all, his strenuous exertions in behalf ol the 
claims ol the surviving officers and soldiers ol the Revolution. 

MINISTER TO COLUMBIA. 

In 1828, General Harrison was appointed, by Mr. Adams, Minister Plenipotentiary to the 
Republic ol Columbia. He arrived in the midst of that unhappy period, when Bolivar, for- 
getful of that example of Washington, which it had been his pride in early life to follow,was 
engaged in those efforts to change "the constitution of his country, the failure of which, and 
the chagrin they brought upon him, consigned him to a premature grave, the broken-hearted 
victim of bitter disappointment and unavailing regrets. An elaborate letter of General Har- 
rison's to Bolivar, in reference to lhe.se matters, is justly admired lor the noble and just senti- 
ments of republican liberty and of pure patriotism, which it is replete with. General Harri- 
^on did not remain long in Columbia, however ; the change of administration which ensued 
in the United States, producing his recall. 

CONCLUSION. 

Such, without enlarging to refer to other trusts of less general importance at different periods 
Confided to General Harrison, have been the great public employments, which, in the course of 
his diversified and eventful life, he has been called to fill, VMlh honor to himself and to Uie 
Union. 

The traits of character, which distinguished him in those employments, have been described 
briefly, as they came successively in review. Some of these treats, of a personal nature, de- 
serve to be more distinctly spoken of by themselves. 

Disinterestedness and integiiiy in pecuniaiy matters have marked all his actions. 

As Governor of Indiana and as Supcrinteiidant of Indian Affairs, large sums of money 
passed through his hands to be disbursed at his discretion, and with few of Uie checks now pro- 
vided in reference to such things. He gave no security, and the Government had no guaranty 
for the faithful application of the funds cntiusted to hmi, but his prudence and honesty. But 
he was conscientiously true to his duty ; neither accumulating wealth by speculation upon the 
public money or lands, nor becoming a debtor of the Government. 

During the war, as commander-in-chief in the Northwest, he had liberty to draw on the 
Governnient to an unlimited amount, and was daily passing large sums of public money through 
his hands, but not a cent did he ever divert to his own use ; and at the close of his military 
services, there was no charge against him on the books of the Treasury, except lor moneys 
faithfully and truly accounted lor by him, and allowed as such. 

Meanwhile, hissituation in life, more especially when Commander-in-chief, subjected him to 
many and great personal charges ; not only those directly incidental to his military duties, in 
iravfclling aiid otherwise; but, charges, also, of a difl'erent kind, imposed by the peculiar de- 
scription of the forces he led, and the consequent neces.sity he was under at times, of keening 
free quarters for the reception of his fellow-citizens, whom his duly to the Government, and the 
dependance of the country upon volunteer troop.s, made it important he should conciliate. Add 



21 

to which, that at his own expense, he coatiaually supplied clothing and other needful comforts 
for his sick and wounded soldiers. Hence, though he lived as frugally and faxed as hardly 
in the field as any soldier in the ranks of his army, yet his expenses at that period exceeded his 
pay, and the balance came from his private property. 

Since the war, General Harrison has been the principal representative of the military class of 
our citizens in the region in which he lived ; and the old soldier, the veteran, who had served 
under Wayne, St. Clair, and others, and still more, they who had served under himself, came to 
him to present their claims for lands and pensions, and regarded him in the light of a protector 
and a friend. Hospitable by nature and habit, the old soldier always found a welcome at his 
fireside. Not only were his expenses increased, but much of his time dso employed, in the 
duties of charity or friendship, to these his brave companions in arms. 

Nor did he at anytime seek to avail himself of those means, which came in his way, to add 
to the regular appointments of the stations he held. While Governor of Indiana and Indian 
Superintendant, he refused to accept any of the perquisites, which before his time had been 
customarily paid; and for his services as commander of the expedition to Tippecanoe he never 
received or asked compensation. 

Though having a numerous family, — and with official patronage long at his command, — and 
high claims in his own right and otherwise, to such favors — he has educated his children at hid 
own expense, and waived opportunities of providing for them in the public service, that he 
might give his influence to others. 

Thus disinterested in his public relations, (and not less so, indeed, in his private,) he has 
carried with him into retirement no spoils of office ; continuing to possess only the competency 
which belongs to independence, and that richest of all possessions, the enviable reputation of an 
upright life. 

Whether in civil office or military command, General Harrison was always just, moderate 
and conciliaton,% though firm ; and whether in public or private life, generous and considerate 
in his disposition, cheerful and affable in his intercourse with all; and though warm in hia 
affections, yet never violent nor vindictive in his enmities. By this rare union of ability, cour- 
tesy, and moderation, it was that he swayed those about him. He himself, on being asked how 
he could control the militia he led to victorj', disclosed the secret of his influence. "By treat- 
ing them" he said "with aff'ection and kindness, by always recollecting that they were my 
fellow-citizens, whose feelings I was bound to respect, and by sharings on every occasion the 
hardships they were obliged to undergo." 

His published writings, which are numerous, are distinguishea by clearness and facility of 
composition, and indicate beyond dispute, that he possesses great cultivation of mind, as well 
a s great natural intellect. 

It is not the purpose of these Outlines to speak with particularity of the political opinions of 
General Harrison. These are best learnt by inspection of his writings, his speeches, his official 
or public correspondence, and by observation of his life and actions. One fact, however, in 
this relation, it is material to bear in mind. Though honored with the confidence as well of 
the Washington and Adams as of the Jefferson and Madison administi-ations, and though heartily 
attached to the Republican principles of the latter, and one of the electors of Mr. Monroe, 
yet his public services have been rendered to his country rather than to a party, and he stands 
free and untrammelled, with claims to the confidence of hi^ fellow-citizens founded not on 
narrow party or sectional peculiarities, but on the broad basis of tried patriotism and capacity, 
unblemished integrity, and his unquestionable devotion to the great public interests of the 
whole Union. And it needs only to add, therefore, that since his return from Columbia, he 
has lived in comparative retirement, upon his farm at North Bend, on the Ohio, a short way 
below Cincinnati, in the enjoyment of the unimpaired vigor of body and mind, which his ac- 
tive and temperate habits of life have secured to nira, and in the conscientious discharge of all 
the relative duties of the just man ernd the sincere Christian. 

THE END. 



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